Sarasota Livin'

Andres Duany is coming back to visit Sarasota on January 10th. Those that don't know he is the designer behind the "Sarasota Downtown Master Plan"

This is a picture of one of the great ideas that we were not ready to adopt... changing the parking lot look of the bayfront and better connecting downtown to the water...

It will never get cheaper...

My blogging has been pretty slow lately ... I see it is over a week since my last posting. I don't know where 2006 went and I think 2007 will be just as busy. Not really complaining I have been doing some cool stuff at work - if you like designing big complex software / database systems.

We have been traveling some also and have another big trip planned in the near future.

In my little spare time I have been "geeking" with my favorite software drupal where version 5.0 is just about to come out and I will be upgrading all of my sites...

United Nations Environment Programme environment for development
The Billion Tree Campaign

Pretty clear ... lets plant more trees there are lots of reasons global warming, shade, privacy, beauty pick one and just go plant a tree.

Many things going on in Sarasota. The ever popular School Ave Project made it another step towards reality. It has been a very "unusual" process with very emotional positions to consider. Glad I am not on the City Commission cause this one is hard.

• 130 affordable housing units managed by Habitat for Humanity in cooperation with Sarasota Memorial Hospital -- that is a good thing.
• Very mad neighborhoods ... this is a bad thing.
• City staff not getting listened to -- usually a bad thing..

The Michaels Development Co. -- rebuilding Sarasota Housing Authority Properties -- It could be a great deal. The developers comes up with the money. Seems no money needs to come from the housing authority (good thing -- it is broke). I guess the City and County will have to pony up some money or at least float bonds.

In other county news we had a battle between Sarasota County and the Cities of Venice and North Port..

Yesterday was a huge day for the citizens of the County and of the cities of North Port and Venice. The BCC voted unanimously to delay putting the charter amendment to referendum in November... a momentary disappointment. They voted instead to agree with the cities to a 6-month moratorium on the cities' annexing of county lands and some other provisions. The cities and the County will have until 12 January (4 months) to have EXECUTED Joint Planning Agreements for the future. The 12 January date was chosen because, failing to have executed agreements, it gives the County 60 days to go ahead and place the charter amendment on the ballot for the scheduled 13 March election for Cities of Sarasota and Longboat and for some special districts. I suspect that vote will be unanimous at that time. Meanwhile, the cities have a huge hammer hanging over them to encourage them to work in good faith. These agreements with the cities must be voted on this coming Monday... if the agreements are unsatisfactory, then the BCC will vote to place the amendment on the ballot on Monday for 7 November.

Another fun one the Reds have won a new ballpark. not with my vote I like parks but only the green kind..

No suprises in this report covered at Cool Town Studios

How does the planning of neighborhoods and cities affect your health? Thanks to the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC), the Congress for the New Urbanism (CNU) and the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC), that's answered in the first report that comprehensively summarizes the impact of the built environment on public health, and how changes can be implemented.

The study, the LEED-ND Report on Public Health & the Built Environment, measure five areas of health:

• Respiratory and cardiovascular health
• Fatal and non-fatal injuries
• Physical activity
• Social capital
• Mental health

Posts like this make Cooltown one of all time favorite websites..

Innovation41 has published it's final master plan.

I think there are some good ideas -- I am not sure it was a good process with all of the outside consultants. We have plenty of good people that would have worked on this process (many that live in the target area) -- they would not have needed any time to "study" the area...

About the Plan

The North Tamiami Trail/US 41 Corridor today is a critical, but underutilized and undervalued gateway to the Sarasota/Manatee region’s most culturally and economically significant resources. Carrying some 50,000 vehicles each day, the corridor provides good automobile mobility, but lacks a sense of place and positive cultural identity despite the presence of outstanding cultural, educational and economic institutions that clearly sustain the vitality of the region for visitors, seasonal and year-round residents.

Achieving the full economic and social potential of the North Trail, while balancing mobility with livability, is the essence of the Educational and Cultural Corridor Master Plan. The Master Plan must build upon the tremendous assets, opportunities and initiatives that exist or are under development by each of the project partners to create a unique sense of identity and cohesive character for the businesses, students, faculty, employees, visitors, and residents within the corridor.

Through creation of a shared vision and specific implementation actions for each study partner, the Master Plan will provide the essential framework needed for the area’s revitalization and emergence as a distinct destination in the region.

How about a 80 feet wide by 180 long elevated park like platform over top of US 41 at Main St... yes joining downtown to the bayfront...

I would love to have a spot to watch the fireworks or boat parade from up there...

The City Commission will be discussing this "wild idea" on July 5th It is being proposed by "Mobility Now" a group that seems to be lead by Gil Waters and Jack West two of the real movers and shakers of Sarasota.

Now if we could just reclaim some of the bayfront land wasted on surface parking lots ....